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You have to feel excited about Delmarva and Bowie's rotations. Only three or four of those guys may be legitimate ML SP prospects, but you could make a reasonable argument that every one of them could pitch in the majors.

I wish I could be as confident about Frederick's rotation. The Bridwell news is welcome. He REALLY needs to have a big year to reestablish his prospect status.

Unless Gausman is absolutely dominant in his last three starts of the spring-they're the only ones that really count because they're normally against legit ML payers for the first five innings or so-he should start the year at Norfolk. If he's forced to earn his promotion this time he'll probably be here to stay.

A few things... This is a drastically depleted farm system. It's almost like the front office considers it's minor league affiliates a complete waste of time and would rather be playing fantasy baseball than running a franchise. I'd hoped when Dan Doucette was hired that would change. It hasn't in the slightest. The club could have slightly over-payed for an average MLSP and purchase meaningful time for it's minor leaguers. Instead i can almost hear AL East teams ready to say "Release the hounds" whenever Baltimore makes a call up.

Delmarva- I would love to see Vader get a crack at a full season club. I've been wondering if he would get that shot.

Frederick: What can I say but "Storm clouds gathering" It would be great to see Kline come in healthy and ready to show what he's got. No Matt Hobgood? Starting to begin the year might be a stretch, but he did build up some innings last season. My guess is he gets some looks as a starter again in Frederick at some point.

Bowie: If Healthy, I suspect Bobby Bundy gets that last starting spot. If not they will be drawing straws.

Norfolk: It's a mess. If we are lucky then Gausman and T.J. McFarland are starting with Mike Wright. After those two it's who is healthy and not ML good enough.

In a weird sort of way this will be a make or break season for me as well. I root for these young guys in the minors. But the team has fleeced a dicey farm system for years now and it's not worked out well at all. Either management/ownership/ the easter bunny or whoever get it together and run the team professionally or I am done with the Orioles.

Well, I think it is important to keep in mind that it may take years to see the results of building up a farm system. I have definitely seen some uptick in improvements with certain areas. I think there is a better crop of talent than in the past. But it's not substantial yet, and they do have a long long ways to go still.

On Vader - I was told that he was kept at Aberdeen to focus on repeating his delivery. Since his stuff is not projected to grow much from fringe-average to solid-average, then I suspect they did not care to rush him until his delivery was improved. I think it is safe to say that Vader has done just that. Looking forward to seeing him in Delmarva.

Hobgood probably will get some starts. I suspect, like you said, they build him up in the pen first. He missed a ton of time and essentially skipped the whole first two years of the "rookie project" as I like to call it. What I mean is the first two years where they essentially build up the stamina/arm for the young HS arms. Teams tend to do this with prospects of this nature, almost like they did with Harvey and Hader.

Bobby Bundy should see time, somewhere. Hopefully he is at Bowie sooner rather than later. But it's been a while, so not sure how he is doing and haven't talked to anyone about him recently.

That's understandable. He was placed on the 40 Man Roster and then out-righted. Resigned as a minor league free agent. I had him on my list, but I had no clue where to predict he would be when the team breaks camp. The knuckle ball is one of those pitches where, once the player figures it out, there's a huge leap in results.

If Eddie can learn to control it, and remain consistent in irregular relief appearances, he could be a nightmare for hitters in the sixth and seventh innings. Imagine him coming in after 95 MPH FBs and going through a lineup one time with his 70 MPH flutters. Then those same hitters would have to face Hunter with his 98 MPH heater. It's ALMOST unfair.

Yeah Brock Huntzinger and Fabio Castillo are definitely relievers going forward. Although irrelevant, Alfredo Asceves, Steve Johnson, Josh Stinson, Tommy Hunter, and Brian Matusz should continue out of the bullpen too. I hate this talk of experimenting with them as starters.

There's been some talk on the forums that Dylan Bundy's future is as a reliever. Although I disagree, I think this holds true for Bobby. Although he was most likely pitching hurt, he hit the wall in AA as a starter in 2012, he missed all of 2013, and 2014 probably won't be very progressive for him. Hopefully he can start fresh in 2015 as a reliever.